Bob Marshall on War & Peace

Republican Senate challenger

Require congressional authorization for "just war"

Only the US Congress is authorized to declare war. It is unconstitutional for Congress to delegate that power to the President. Therefore Representatives and Senators have the grave moral responsibility to prudently evaluate the factual conditions for
the moral legitimacy necessary to declare war. War can morally be waged under the following conditions known as the "just war" doctrine:

The damage inflicted by the aggressor must be lasting, grave and certain;

All other means of ending the conflict failed or were impractical or ineffective;

There must be serious prospects for success;

The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil sought to be eliminated.

The first goal of American foreign and military policy should be to reduce occasions of conflict between America and other nations.

Opposes sending troops overseas without declaration of war

The debate included an inquiry on whether the candidates supported the president sending troops overseas without a declaration of war from Congress. Radtke, Jackson and Marshall all were adamantly against it, but Allen instead attacked Obama for not
supporting potential government opposition in Iran.

"The concern I have is not whether you have an authorization of force," Allen said. "I really worry about the military readiness of our country, regardless of whether or not there's an authorization."

We must stabilize Iraq, instead of cut-and-run

I believe our troops and our allied forces have successfully removed Saddam Hussein but the Iraqi people must win the peace. We cannot cut and run, but we must do all we can to stabilize the region and then begin to bring our troops home. Stabilization
of the region could be aided if all Iraqi citizens were allowed to own shares of the natural oil wealth thereby instilling a greater incentive to deter violence and protect their homeland. But our first consideration must be our own nation’s security.